Geek Squad
by Isabel5
Summary: Chlollie - Chloe is having some computer problems and Oliver is just trying to help...honestly. One-shot .


Author's Note: This little ficlet was brought to you based on the prompt "Computer trouble" by Miranda882, and written hastily while at work so has not been beta'd any mistakes are my own. Enjoy.

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Chloe was on the edge of her seat, or she would have been had she been sitting. But how was she expected to sit at a time like this. "You're hovering again." The guy on the floor told her, sparing a short amused look over his shoulder as she bit her lip to keep from snapping at him.

"That doesn't go there." She said instead nodding to the wire he was about to attach to a place that it definitely did not belong.

"Actually it does." He sighed in resignation and turned around speaking slowly and patiently as if to a child. "You were re-routing the signal through two fire walls that you don't even need by the way." He tried to smile so Chloe wouldn't think that she was insulting him. "If I attach it here, it'll cancel out your lag time."

"I don't have lag time." Chloe glared crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh you do. I'd say it's about fifteen seconds, which doesn't seem like much but can sometimes mean the difference between life and death." He smiled bigger and Chloe deflated slightly. "Don't worry that's what I'm here for."

"That's what I'm here for." Chloe mumbled under her breath as he turned back to the circuit board and attached the wire. She knew she sounded like a fourth grader but at the moment she felt as if Oliver was treating her like a fourth grader so she would act like one if she wanted to. For his part, the guy only chuckled at her, hardly fazed by her annoyance.

She'd spent the better part of two months trying to fix the damage done to her systems after the throw down with Icicle. When everything still wasn't up and running that morning, completely unbeknownst to her, Oliver took it upon himself to call in Marshall who introduced himself to Chloe as "tech support".

To say that she was confused was an understatement. As far as she was concerned tech support had always been her job, she'd built this place from the ground up, she put it together piece by piece, this was her baby, this was her creation and Oliver had called in someone from outside. She'd politely invited Marshall in, all smiles and "Can I get you a cup of coffee?" all the while typing out a very urgent and angry text message to Oliver that if he knew what was good for him he'd get to the Watchtower as fast as his bike could carry him.

He'd replied that he was on his way. He'd intended to be there when Marshall arrived if only to smooth things over but he got held up in a meeting. He also added that he would consider it a personal favor if Chloe allowed him to at least look at the damage. So that's what she'd done, shown him to her set up and as politely as she could manage told him to "have a go".

Marshall finished what he was doing and paused thoughtfully before moving onto another area. "No wait, there's nothing wrong with…it's a very delicate system, I'd really rather you not touch any of that." Chloe stepped forward and physically inserted herself between the man and her equipment.

"You're going to…" He reached forward and Chloe had to fight the urge to slap his hand away. The look on her face must have been enough because he withdrew his hand quickly. "It's just you've completely overloaded the circuit there." He pointed taking great pains not to touch anything. "It's going to blow and you'll have to replace the whole board." Chloe's lip twitched and he paused. "It's blown before hasn't it?" Marshall offered cautiously. "You've already replaced the board."

"Twice." Chloe admitted. "But there were extenuating circumstances you can't possibly understand." The tone of her voice was haughty and Marshall had had just about enough of this treatment.

"What I understand is that I'm surprised this whole place hasn't burned down by the way you've haphazardly slapped this whole set up together. I wouldn't be surprised if I found half of it held together by duct tape." Marshall snapped at her. "You've got things spliced together that should never touch and boards with so much flowing into them so fast it's bottle necking so badly that at the least you're system should be running slower than an original IBM 5150 and at worst could cause a meltdown of Chernobyl proportions which would not only likely put you off line permanently but the way you seem to have rigged yourself into the city grid, would probably take the rest of Metropolis down with you. Now would you please, back off and let someone who knows what they're doing fix this." The moment the rant left his mouth Marshall wished he could take it back, take it all back because if the look on Chloe's face was any indication he'd really just crossed a line here. He sort of wished now he hadn't ignored his mom's phone call that morning, it would have been nice to say goodbye to her.

***************

Oliver checked his watch for the hundredth time, hoping against hope that somehow time had stopped or even reversed since the last time he checked it ten seconds ago. Chloe was going to kill him, well she was probably going to kill Marshall and then kill him and while he was normally more than willing to sacrifice himself for the cause he kind of felt bad for bringing the kid into this mess.

"Hey, boss man, didn't know you'd be coming in today." Bart was walking toward the building from the other direction with AC and Victor in tow. Oliver paused, he still wasn't used to them all being together again and seeing them joking around and laughing still brought a smile to his face.

After the incident with the JSA, he thought Chloe was getting better. They'd gone out to dinner that night, him, Chloe and John and laughed and joked and the next day Chloe seemed distant and even more closed off and Oliver had tried everything he could to bring back the happy carefree girl. He plied her with exotic coffees from faraway lands, surprised her with her favorite foods and even a new pair of shoes. In his attempts to bring a smile back to her face he'd even offered to steal something just for her. He said that the MOMA had just installed a new security system he was dying to have a crack at.

**************

"_This is a limited time offer, what can I get you? The crown jewels?" He nudged her shoulder._

"_Those are in the Tower of London." Chloe mumbled but she graced him with a small smile. _

"_Really?" Oliver frowned. _

"_Why would they keep the crown jewels in New York?" Chloe asked him. _

"_I don't know, to confuse people." Oliver offered and Chloe shook her head. _

"_What would I do with the Crown Jewels anyway?" She asked him._

"_Wear them around the Watchtower." Oliver said. "Class the place up a bit." She did laugh at that and so he tried another. "What about the Kohinoor? It's big and shiny, you could use it as a paperweight." _

"_You want me to use the world's largest diamond as a paperweight?" Chloe turned her attention fully on him, her smile even bigger. _

"_Or you know a sun catcher." Oliver leaned back in his seat, vowing that he actually would steal the 105 carat diamond if it would keep that smile on her face. _

"_I'm good on paper weights, especially since I'm pretty much paperless her." Chloe assured him. _

"_Ok, so something useful then." Oliver thought hard about it. "I've got it, the Dead Sea Scrolls." _

_Chloe laughed out loud. "That's what you think of as useful?" She asked him. "900 pages of Hebrew and Greek biblical documents?" _

"_What you don't read Hebrew?" Oliver teased._

"_Besides, also not at the MOMA." Chloe shook her head._

"_Seriously?" Oliver asked confused. _

"_Nope, they're kept in the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem." Chloe told him. _

"_Do they keep anything in the MOMA?" Oliver asked her. _

"_Well they've got a Tim Burton exhibit right now, a few Monet's." Chloe shrugged. _

"_So just art?" _

"_Just art." She nodded. "Hence the name." _

"_Right." He looked discouraged. "Art is boring." Chloe laughed at him again and he smiled. "How do you know off the top of your head what's at the MOMA? Or where the Dead Sea Scrolls are?" He narrowed his eyes at her. _

"_Well, see I work with a guy who likes to break into museums for the fun of it when he gets board and steal random items." She nudged his shoulder. "I like to know what's out there so I can know where to return things." _

_He just shook his head at her, amazed that he wasn't more amazed. "Seriously, what can I get you? There must be something you want." _

_She sobered suddenly and Oliver regretted bringing it up. "You know what I want?" She sighed. "I want my family back." _

_Oliver didn't have to ask her what that meant, he already knew. He knew she wasn't talking about her mother who was currently being looked after by the best doctors money could buy. He knew she wasn't talking about her father who took a job in Germany two years ago and barely called anymore. He knew she wasn't even talking about Lois who was so wrapped up in Clark and the Daily Planet that the most they exchanged these days were e-mails and text messages. He knew she was talking about her team and he smiled, promising silently that he would do whatever it took to get her family back. _

********

He'd done it too. It had taken less than two weeks to track everyone down and get them back together, another week of screaming matches and accusations, of apologies and promises to change to get them to stay then without warning, without even trying really everything just seemed to slide into place. The guys got their jobs back, their purpose and Chloe got her family.

Things were still a little rough and they had more awkward moments than not but they were working on it slowly but surely. Oliver stared at the group in front of him now and his smile faltered. "Wait, Chloe's alone with Marshall?"

"Who's Marshall?" AC asked confused. "She sent us out to get breakfast a little over thirty minutes ago."

"Oh shit." Oliver said running into the building, the guys behind him. He'd figured they'd all be there, act as sort of a buffer between Chloe and the tech guy, make sure that nothing happened. But if they were alone, Oliver dreaded to think what he'd walk in on and as he opened the door, he realized it was much worse.

It had been twenty minutes since Marshall got there, fifteen since he got Chloe's texts and the whole way over he'd been worrying himself silly imagining worst case scenarios, each one more troubling than the last. To say that this scene hadn't even entered his mind either showed that he wasn't very creative or he'd seriously underestimated the attachment Chloe held to her precious Watchtower.

"This is what I missed." Bart stage whispered to Oliver. "You never know what's going to happen around here. One minute you go out for breakfast, the next, BAM, you walk right into the middle of a Mexican standoff." Oliver spared him a warning glance before moving forward slowly.

"Chloe?" Oliver called out so that she knew he was there, and wouldn't react to any sudden movements. "You really need to put the crossbow down." Oliver swallowed hard as the tip of the arrow pushed into the flesh of Marshall's neck. And how the hell did she get one of crossbows anyway.

"He needs to apologize." Chloe said. "He insulted my set up."

"He didn't mean it, I'm sure he didn't mean it." Oliver offered. "You didn't mean it did you Marshall?"

"No, I didn't mean it at all." He shook his head then winced as the sharp tip of the arrow punctured his skin, drawing a small pin prick of blood.

"See, he didn't mean it." Oliver took another step closer, slowly. "He's really sorry, very very sorry." When Marshall didn't say anything Oliver looked at him pointedly.

"Yes, I am, very truly sorry." Marshall closed his eyes. "Your system isn't crap; it's actually one of the most advanced ones I've ever seen." He swallowed hard. "I'm not even sure how you managed to do half of this stuff."

"Really?" Chloe pulled back a bit and Oliver took that opportunity to relieve her of the weapon. "You're not just saying that?" She asked Marshall.

He opened his eyes and noticed that the danger was, for the moment gone, and pulled himself up. "No, I'm really not. I mean the way you've rigged everything up is borderline dangerous but your operating system is years ahead of its time and capable of things I wasn't even sure a computer could do." Marshall said in one hasty breath.

Chloe smiled then, bright and blinding and Oliver wouldn't have believed the abrupt change had he not witnessed it first had. "Thanks." She offered Marshall. "I suppose you have a point about the hardware, I was more of a software girl myself and I sort of had to patch things together however I could to make it work."

"It's ingenious really." Marshall said. "I mean a total fire hazard but still…maybe we could work together, you tell me how you managed to write your programming and I'll show you how to hook it all up correctly."

"I think I can handle that." Chloe smiled. "Coffee?"

"Please." Marshall nodded and walked toward the kitchen.

"Well that was disappointing." Bart frowned.

"See." Oliver slung an arm around Chloe's shoulder. "That wasn't so bad was it? Everyone friends and there's no need for violence."

"Oliver the next time you bring in an outside tech guy without consulting me you are going to wish you hadn't taught me shoot so damn straight, are we clear?" Chloe ducked out from under his arm and glared at him.

"Crystal." Oliver nodded his throat suddenly inexplicably dry.

"Good." Chloe turned on her heal and headed for the kitchens.

"Dude, you called the Geek Squad in on Watchtower?" Victor shook his head. "So not cool."

"In my defense…" He paused, closed his mouth and then shook his head. "Who am I kidding, there is no defense is there?"

"None at all." Bart said around a mouth full of blueberry muffin. He swallowed. "That's like an amateur mistake." He shook his head.

Oliver looked down and brushed the muffin crumbs off his suit where Bart had spit them. "Have I mentioned how glad I am that you're back yet?"

"Please, you totally missed us." Bart smiled. "Your life was boring without us around."

Oliver thought about Roulette and the fight club and Mia and Hawkman and the JSA and though he barely had time to breathe in the past few months, Bart was right, his life had been boring without them. AC grabbed the bag of pastries and he and Victor walked to the kitchen to join Chloe and Marshall in the kitchen and Oliver watched as they passed out the muffins and scones and bombarded Chloe with stories and questions. He realized sadly that although he'd missed them, now that they were back he no longer had Chloe to himself. Now he was going to have to vie for her attention along with everyone else and he wondered when Chloe's attention became so important to him. "I don't know." He smiled over at Bart. "Life without you guys had its perks."

Bart just looked at him confused as Chloe got up from the table and walked toward them. "AC and Vic are fighting over the last chocolate chip scone, you better get in there if you want a chance." She said to Bart who smiled and in a flash was at the side of the table arguing why he should get the delicious pastry. "You not hungry?" Chloe frowned at Oliver.

"Breakfast meeting at seven this morning." Oliver shook his head.

"Oh." She sounded almost disappointed. "Well, look, I love the guys I really do but they can be a bit…overwhelming you know." Oliver just smiled and nodded. "So seeing as how you owe me for the whole Marshall thing, do a girl a favor?"

"Anything." Oliver offered.

"Dinner tonight, just you and me, save my sanity?" Chloe asked. "We can say it's official business or something but I just need a few hours of peace and quiet and…you know…I sort of missed you." Oliver smiled bigger and Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't go getting a big head over it or anything it's just we sort of had a standing…whatever you know and it was getting to be a…you know what whatever." She turned around and walked away, blushing furiously.

"Chloe." Oliver smiled and reached out to grab her wrist. He wasn't prepared for the shock that spread from his fingertips to his toes at the simple touch of skin on skin. It swirled around in his stomach for a second, making him regret the poached eggs he'd had that morning. He ignored it however and tugged her slightly so that she turned around to face him. "It would be my pleasure." He told her seriously, no mocking, no outrageous smile. "The usual place?" He offered and she smiled.

"Fine but you're getting your own order of pot stickers this time. Last time you ate over half of mine and you know they're my favorite." Chloe scolded him.

"What can I say, they taste better when you order them." Oliver told her. "I think the chef has a crush on you, I think he puts something special in yours."

"You are delusional." She laughed. "Eight o'clock?" She was keenly aware that he hadn't let go of her wrist and even more aware that she didn't actually want him too.

"It's a date." Oliver nodded once and Chloe opened her mouth to protest or correct him but in the end did neither. She just nodded and smiled and reluctantly pulled free from his grasp to head back to the table. As Oliver's finger trailed softly across the skin on her wrist, as if he was just as reluctant to let her go, she closed her eyes and realized that she felt like things were finally slotting into place. She and Clark were getting on the right track finally, she had her family back together again tonight she had a date.


End file.
